Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1496419
UNDER THE DOME 12 MAY 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED ✦ NUMBERS & QUOTES 26 Points scored by Notre Dame women's basketball five-star signee HANNAH HIDALGO in the 2023 Mc- Donald's All-American Game at the Toyota Center in Houston March 28. Nobody else in the history of the girls' game has scored more. The previous high was future Oregon and WNBA star Sabrina Ionescu's 25-point effort in 2016. The 5-foot-6 Hidalgo stuffed the stat sheet for the East squad with 8 steals — which tied a record for the prestigious game — and 5 assists in 23 minutes of action en route to co-MVP honors with USC signee JuJu Watkins, who led the West team to a 110-102 victory with 25 points of her own. Hidalgo was joined on the East team by fellow Irish five-star signee Emma Risch, who tallied 3 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals and 1 as- sist in 18 minutes of action. I promised my mom that I would come back if I left early. So, I'm ful- filling a promise, and fulfilling something I want to have in my bag for the rest of my life." — Former Irish tight end Cole Kmet on returning to school to finish his degree 5 Straight wins for the Fighting Irish foot- ball team when it wears green jerseys. The streak began with a 45-21 win over Maryland in the 2011 Shamrock Series game in Landover, Md. Notre Dame also wore green while defeating Boston College 19-16 in 2015, Army 44-6 in 2016, Florida State 42-13 in 2018 and California 24-17 in 2022. The Irish will put that streak on the line this fall. The school announced on St. Patrick's Day that they would be wearing green jerseys against Ohio State Sept. 23. 12th Was where The Athletic slotted Notre Dame in its rankings of Power Five football programs based on recruiting potential. The Irish's high- est vote was 5 and its lowest was 18. Georgia topped the rankings — which were compiled by polling eight members of the website's college football staff — followed by Alabama, Ohio State, LSU, Texas, USC, Texas A&M, Clemson, Oregon, Oklahoma, Miami and the Fighting Irish. People were paying under the table for as long as I've been around. Now it's the same payment, but they're calling it NIL. We're not going to stop it. It's not going to all go away. But we've got to get out of this po- sition where the vast majority of the transactions occurring are not what they are being characterized as. Educational institutions ought to be embarrassed to be part of it. 'We're going to conduct a fraud here!'" — Notre Dame director of athletics Jack Swarbrick in an interview with Sports Illustrated 4 Notre Dame men's basketball players entered the transfer portal after it opened March 13: freshman guard JJ Starling (who subsequently committed to Syracuse), graduate student guard Robby Car- mody (Mercer), freshman forward Dom Camp- bell (Howard) and graduate student guard Cor- mac Ryan (who also declared for the NBA Draft). With four other fifth-year players exhausting their eligibility in 2022-23, the Irish entered April with just four scholarship players. As of March 31, the Irish were one of eight ACC teams that had at least three players en- ter the portal. Louisville and North Carolina led the way with six, followed by Boston Col- lege and Notre Dame with four, and NC State, Syracuse, Virginia and Virginia Tech with three. I'm from Indiana. I grew up in Indiana. Coached most of my life here. It's exciting for me to be back. I told Coach [Mar- cus Freeman] the other day, I love college football. I don't watch the NFL at all. I love college football. I grew up a Notre Dame football fan. You don't know how many games Saturday afternoon I sat on the couch and turned it to NBC to watch it. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to be around and watch you guys and be here at Notre Dame." — New Notre Dame men's basketball head coach Micah Shrewsberry 0 Notre Dame athletics teams three- peated as national champions until the fencing squad achieved that feat from 2021-23. The football program won back-to-back national titles twice (1929-30 and 1946-47), while fencing also did it twice (the men did it in 1977-78, plus the men and women teamed up to do it in 2017-18). The Irish fencers have now been crowned national champs 13 times, the most of any Notre Dame sports program (edging football's 11 recognized titles). Championships. That's what my goal is for col- lege. I didn't get it here [at Haddonfield (N.J.) Paul VI]. I want to get it there [at Notre Dame]." —Five-star Irish women's basketball signee Hannah Hidalgo (Courier-Post [N.J.]) I don't think Tyler Buchner is going to take a back seat to anybody. Tyler Buchner is going to go out here to compete for the starting quarterback position, and he's going to get an opportunity to compete." — Irish quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS